History

Lincoln Mills’ historical importance is invigorating and inspiring, spanning and exemplifying, possibly as no other buildings in the city, the transition of Huntsville from a ubiquitous cotton mill town to the “Rocket City.”

In 1901, Madison Spinning Company laid the foundation for a mill on the west side of the railroad tracks across from Dallas Manufacturing. This operation became insolvent and ceased operation in 1906, and the property reopened in 1908 as Abingdon Mill. In 1918, it was purchased by William Lincoln Barrell of Lowell, MA, and was known from that time until 1955 as Lincoln Mills of Alabama.

 

After the purchase, Lincoln Mills underwent a tremendous building program, with Mill #3 being built in 1927 and the Finishing Plant (Dye House) being built in 1929-1930. The mill complex grew to a substantial size, approaching 800,000 square feet, and was the largest of the seven major Huntsville cotton mills.

 

After a series of strikes, the property ceased operation as cotton textile mills in 1955, closing its 54-year history in that capacity.

 

The four mills, and their accessory buildings such as the Well House, Chemical Vault and the Dye House, did not sit empty for long. In February 1957, Huntsville Industrial Associates, an alliance of 35 local business and government leaders led by Carl T. Jones, purchased the property, renamed it the “Huntsville Industrial Center,” and immediately saw positive returns on their investment when Brown Engineering, a Huntsville firm expanding through government contracts, leased the former Mill #3. Milton Cummings was president of Brown Engineering, and had grown up in the Lincoln Mill Village. In July 1958, Chrysler, which had won the contract to construct the Army’s Jupiter rocket, decided to locate in the Industrial Center as well, occupying the former Mill #2.

 

Additional contractors serving the space and military industrial complex located in the revived and repurposed Huntsville Industrial Center, which became locally known as the “HIC” building. Much work occurred at the H.I.C. that was instrumental in helping put men on the Moon. Over time, however, these companies, including NASA, relocated either to Redstone Arsenal or the new Research Park that was developed on Huntsville’s western edge in the cotton fields that formerly supplied cotton to Lincoln Mills. As these companies left, their space was either abandoned, or rented as storage, small office and light industrial.

 

The largest fire in Huntsville’s history destroyed much of the complex in February, 1980. However, Mill #3 and the Dye House, the last of the complex to be built and conceived and built as “fire proof”, fulfilled their design intent and survived the fire. The Well House and Chemical Vault were on the southernmost side of the site, and these, along with the Lincoln Mills Headquarters Office, survived as well. After the fire, upon realizing how difficult and expensive it would be to demolish the remaining structures due to their heavy concrete construction, these remaining buildings were sold to a tenant, Robin Ebaugh, who had an operation in one of the mill buildings that had burned. The family partnership led by Robin Ebaugh owned the property for the next quarter-of-a-century (1982-2007.) Robin single-handedly marketed, managed, and maintained the property. Some of the work that he performed largely by himself was border-line Herculean. For instance, in an effort to conserve energy, coupled with a lack of funds to restore the large number of rolled-steel and glass windows, Robin fabricated and installed sheet metal coverings on each opening, often laboring in the evening by floodlight.

 

Lincoln Mills was sold by the Ebaughs in 2007 to a new family partnership, led by Jim Byrne. Better-suited owners would be hard to find. Jim has stated that “these buildings deserve to be restored.” And, indeed, they do. 

 

We invite you to join us as a visitor or as a neighbor at Lincoln Mills. The restoration will be in an authentic setting, envisioned to feature:

 

  • Lincoln Mills - Huntsville Industrial Center & Dr. Pepper Museums
  • Organic farming and food processing
  • Local flavor restaurants
  • An independent movie theater
  • An event facility
  • A Sustainability Center focused on techniques and technologies that will lead us to live more lightly on the land
  • Loft homes, offices and galleries, for rent and for sale
  • And a guaranteed interesting mix of small business operators and loft dwellers.
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Saturday
23May2009

From Outer Space to the Third Space

DateSaturday, May 23, 2009 at 8:38AM

I am always amazed at the ebb and flow, the waxing and waning, of real estate. How a specific piece of land and/or buildings can evolve, at times desirable and prosperous, other times less so. This process has certainly accelerated in the past 200 years in America given the onslaught of urbanization and the built environment. For instance, the site that is now graced by Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta has been, during the past 180 years:

· Cherokee Indian hunting grounds

· The innermost line of Confederate trenches defending Atlanta during the Civil War

· An animal hide tanning complex

· Industrial factories and warehouses

· Club Rio, an icehouse converted to a debaucherous dance venue, and the initial stop on Rob Lowe’s fall from grace while visiting Atlanta during the 1988 Democratic Convention

Lincoln Mills, after an impressive run as a textile mill, metamorphosed into the birthplace in Huntsville of the space and rocket industry. As the companies and entities that led and serviced the moon missions moved to Marshall Space Flight Center and the new technology park on the western edge of the city, the Huntsville Industrial Center labored on, with an evolving and eclectic mix of tenants with a new unifying theme – low-cost overhead.

Some of the office and laboratory space that was built during the moon mission phase was built with steel walls, doors and hardware, and remains in completely serviceable shape. Combined with the concrete and steel floors, walls, ceilings and support columns, if ever there was space that could be salvaged and repurposed, this hallowed ground is it.

A unifying theme for a portion of this historic site seems to be “The Third Space.” Lincoln Mills will have all of the “Three Spaces”:

1. The “First Space” – Home

Residential Lofts of various sizes, configurations and prices will be a key element of Lincoln Mills.

2. The “Second Space” – Work

Lincoln Mills will house offices, a green laundry, restaurants, a school (certainly considered work by the students), an organic farm and farmers market, an iron workshop, Ozone Joe’s, and on and on.

3. The “Third Space” – space that is neither work nor home, yet having features of both. Starbucks was born of the Third Space.

 

Lincoln Mills will offer affordable offices with “easy in-easy out” leases, manufacturing space, artist lofts and galleries, a eco-friendly shared paint booth, an independent theater, conference space, collaboration and networking spaces, and an Eco-tel, all synergistically working to provide a rich foundation for the Third Space.

Serendipitously and not surprisingly, our vision for Lincoln Mills and its future is shared as a general guiding concept by others in Huntsville. These like-minded people are finding each other, and will perhaps physically come together permanently in one place at Lincoln Mills - the Three Spaces in one place.

AuthorWayne | Comment1 Comment |

Reader Comments (1)

The students won't consider school "work" if it is meaningful to them. You and I are both students. We learn while we work. The difference between us and most 16 year olds is the fact that we have the ability to sustain ourselves if we walk off the "job."

I am committed to redesigning "schooling" so it means something to life in the 22nd century. At present, we embrace a model based on suppositions from the mid 1860's. We might as well be treating Cancer with leaches...

drpk

November 26, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterPhilip Kovacs

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